Washington, DC- U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), a member of the National Security Working Group, released a statement ahead of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit:
“As we approach the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, it is important that we continue to build on the United States’ leadership in addressing global food insecurity. Food insecurity remains a serious problem - one in eight people around the world suffer from chronic hunger. Reducing hunger, especially for children, is a moral imperative and also in our national security and economic interest. In January 2014, the U.S. Intelligence Community's Worldwide Threat Assessment reported that the “lack of adequate food will be a destabilizing factor in countries important to U.S. national security.”
Feed the Future, which has its roots in the response to the global food crisis in 2008, is a whole-of-government, country-led approach to reducing global hunger through agricultural development. It is based on a partnership between the U.S. and international private sector, research and academic institutions, civil society, and partners in the developing world. Since 2010, Feed the Future has helped improve the nutrition of 12 million children and helped nearly seven million farmers grow their way out of poverty.
I was proud to introduce the Global Food Security Act of 2009 with Senator Lugar, and I believe legislation is still needed to build upon the successes we have seen under the Feed the Future program. In the next work period, I will continue to work with my colleagues in a bipartisan way to move forward with the introduction of a bill to require the Administration to develop and implement a strategy to address hunger and poor nutrition in developing countries. In the long run, such a strategy could help improve developing countries’ agricultural production in a sustainable manner that helps them transition away from the need for emergency food assistance.
Significant progress has already been made to address global food insecurity, but more work is needed. The United States can and should continue to lead this effort.”
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